Miss Elric
by HermioneHuff
Summary: I didn't mean for it to happen… I mean, one second I'm in my home, about to re-enjoy my favourite manga, and then… Well, it's complicated
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I click 'off' on my remote and the TV shuts off the credits of "Conqueror of Shambala". I sigh. _I wish my sister wasn't borrowing the Anime, because I really want to enjoy more Fullmetal Alchemist… I'm in a Fullmetal Mood… _I think to myself. Then it clicks in. _Hey, where's the manga? I can enjoy that!_

I go over to my bookshelf, in my hallway of my tiny one-bedroom suite in my parent's basement and pick up Fullmetal Alchemist, the manga, Volume 1.

Only… it looks different…

"That's not Al…" I murmur to myself, looking closer at the art… "The girl looks familiar, though…" Winry, maybe? Rose?

Then I realize who it looks like.

"HOLY SHIT!" I scream, dropping the book and bringing my hands to my mouth in surprise.

The girl in the book wasn't Winry. Nor was it Rose. It was me at seventeen!

_That can't be right… _I think to myself. _I mean, I'm already 21! And I've never done any of this stuff that's in the book… That can't be me…_

Sure enough, I look again at the cover and an anime version of me with my shoulder-length, curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes is popping out of Al's armor with a mischievous grin on her face.

I pull a strand of my hair over my shoulder. Waist length, straightened and black. I dyed it shortly before my eighteenth birthday, and I kept it black ever since.

I open the book to see if I'm there, too, and I'm greeted by a bright light and unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**AL?**

"Al? Hey, Al, you awake?" I hear a voice that I know I've heard recently, but I can't place it. It sounds muffled and far away.

"Mmph?" I reply with a grunt. My voice sounds tinny, as though I'm in something big and metal.

Wait, metal? I look left and right. I can't see anything.

"Al… You have to get up! We're going to see Winry, remember?" The voice says again.

_Winry…? Wait, that voice, is that…?_

"Edward?" I complete my thoughts out loud.

"Yeah, Al? Why does your voice sound girlier than usual?" Ed replies, laughing and I hear footsteps coming closer to me, wherever I am.

I panic and start to sit up. I bang my head on something, and I hear the footsteps stop. I lie back down, groaning. "Ow… my head…"

"…Al?" Ed's footsteps run towards me. I hear him stop right above my head.

Something opens above my, something metal. I look up and I see Edward, anime-style, red coat and all, looking at me, holding Al's armor helmet, looking confused and angry. "You're not Al."

"Huh?" I ask, also confused. I look left and right, again. This time, I see what looks like armor encasing me.

"Who are you?" Ed roars, pulling on my blonde (that isn't right either) hair, trying to get me out.

"Ow ow ow!" I cry, grabbing his hand and trying to get him to let go. "Let go, that hurts!"

"Answer me first! Who are you?!" He asks again, but his grip loosens a bit.

"My name is Paige Alde…" I look back up at his hand, which is still holding my blonde hair. "Maybe… I'm seventeen?" I add softly.

"Don't even know your own age?" He taunts, a shadow of a smile creeping onto his face.

"Well… I'm not from here… where are we anyways, Ed?" I pull my hair out of his hand and, surprisingly, he doesn't object. He just puts down Al's head and crosses his arms over his chest as though angry.

"Central… Wait, how do you know my name?" Ed counters in a frustrated voice.

"Why wouldn't I? You are Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, aren't you?"

"Oh… that's why…" He shakes his head in disbelief, clearly having forgotten he's a famous alchemist. "To change the subject, what'd you do with my brother, Paige?"

I blush. "I didn't really do anything… I was reading a book, and all of a sudden I'm here, four years younger than I really am."

"I guess that explains your age confusion… How do you know you're four years younger?"

"Well first of all, do I look 21?" I snap, finally having the sense to try to get out of the armor.

"Well… no." Ed admits, stepping back so I can get out.

"Second of all, I died my hair when I was 18, so I can't be older than that. It's neither black nor straightened, which is how I keep it." I manage to get out and I shake my head in disbelief as to where I am.

Wherever that actually is, not a clue.

"So how did you get here again?" Ed's voice is calmer, less angry. I realize he's only a few inches shorter than me.

"I told you… I was reading a book, well a manga really, about you and your brother, and-"

"Wait, there's a manga about me and my brother?"

"Yeah, it's well written, but the anime is way better…"

"We have an anime too?! Aw, man, wait 'til I tell Al!" An obviously-Edward-Elric grin crosses his face until he clues in to his own words. "Hey, where is he, anyways?"

Ed takes a few steps forward to the armor, and sticks his head into the neck hole, gripping the sides. "Al… you in there, brother?"

No reply.

"Al…?" Still no reply. He panics, taking his head out.

Then I notice something. "Edward…" I start, but he clearly can't, or won't, hear me.

"Al?!" He steps to the side of the bed, me following, and shakes the empty armor, and I can see tears forming in his golden eyes.

"Edward-"

"Dammit Al!" He kicks the bed the armor's on and slams his hands down on the mattress beside what used to be his brother.

"Edward…" I put a hand down on his left shoulder.

He smacks it away, surprising me with a hand in front of me in a 'Stop' position. "Don't touch me!"

"But Ed…" I protest, and he turns his head to look at me. I'm not surprised to see tears all down his face, and he looks angry. "I know you're upset, but you have to see this."

I step back and sideways, stopping in front of the neck. I point to a spot on it, that only he would normally know about. He freezes, and I see his already-pale face go literally as white as paper.

He can't speak, and he slinks to his knees and places his face on the bed, and starts to actually cry.

I try to think how this might be from Ed's point of view, how he would feel when he saw that there's no blood seal on Al's neck.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**WHAT I NEVER HAD**

"We have to find Colonel Mustang." Edward stated, walking swiftly towards the door.

"Um… we?" I asked, confused. I may love their life story, but I'm not sure I'd like to meet someone like Mustang. I mean, it's not that I'm vain or anything, but I'm a _blond 17-year-old girl_who's not exactly the homeliest looking person out there.

"Yes, we. You showed up when Al disappeared, so there must be a connection. Whether you're the victim or the villain here, you're not leaving my sight until we find my brother and the source of this." He opens the door and waits for me.

"Alright, fine." I sigh and cross the room after him.

"Colonel?" Edward states, arriving just outside his office door, it cracked open slightly.

I come up behind him, panting (I didn't realize we were in Central Command until he decided to _run_ all the way here), just as Mustang – I mean, the Colonel – answered, not recognizing Ed's voice. "Come in."

Ed walks in, with a clear look of anger on his face. I follow behind, looking somewhat scared.

"Ah, Edward… Good to see you. I thought you were going to see Winry though. She misses you."

"Cut the crap, Colonel, and tell me what the hell is going on here!" Ed roars, stomping his foot. I don't remember him being quite this angry at Mustang since near the beginning of the anime…

"What's the matter with you, Fullmetal? Has some soldier been hitting on your sister? Don't worry about that, they're all secretly in love with Lieutenant Hawkeye, no matter how many chicks they hit on." Mustang jokes (Ah, what the hell. It's not like I'll be able to stop calling him Mustang anyways.), and he can't help but grin at his own joke.

"What the- I don't have a sister!" Ed protests, and he steals a glance over at me in his confusion. I shrug my shoulders at him.

"Oh, now I see what's wrong, Edward. You pull this 'I don't have a sister' crap every time she does something to make you angry enough to want to strangle her pretty little neck." Mustang then winks at me, and I realize what's going on. (This seems to be an ongoing trend… I guess Edward isn't super observant.)

"Ed…" I reach over and try to grab his jacket. I miss.

"What are you talking about?!" He leans forward so he's almost into Mustang's face, just as I reach for him. "I would never say such a stupid thing, because _I DON'T HAVE A SISTER!"_ He bangs his fist on Mustang's desk, emphasizing his last word. "And I don't give a shit what you're trying to feed me right now, because Al's missing and we need to find him!"

"Whoa, calm down Fullmetal." Mustang raises his hands in front of his face, then lowers them down as he stands up. "First of all, who's Al? Your sister's new boyfriend? And second of all, of course you have a sister. She's right there." And he gestures to me, much to Edward's shock.

"What? No! She's not my sister!" Ed's as surprised as I thought he would be, and I lean forward and grab him by the blood-red jacket he always wears.

"Ed… We have to talk for a second." I mutter, pulling him towards me, about ten feet from Mustang's desk.

"What?" He sputters, shaking off my hand.

"I think something's going on here…" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"Of course something's going on, you nitwit."

I almost laugh at his choice of words. "But something supernatural, abnormal… maybe someone kidnapped your brother and erased their memories."

"That's ridi-" Ed pauses, considering this.

"It may be ridiculous, but doesn't it sound like something the Homunculi would do to lure you into performing Alchemy for them?" I reason with him, and for a minute he almost seems to believe me.

But only for a minute.

"Why would you come up with this theory unless you work with the Homunculi and that's what you're doing?"

I roll my eyes and shake my head in disbelief and near disappointment. "Edward, if that really were true, which it isn't, would I actually tell you the real plans?"

He blushes, and agrees.

I continue. "Anyways, maybe they kidnapped Al, erased all their memories, and made it so that only you knew he ever existed?"

"Even Envy isn't _that_ cruel. Maybe there's one other person… someone close to us…" He ponders for a minute, and so do I. We come to a conclusion at the same time.

"Winry."

We leave Mustang's office and head to the station, where we get on the train and head for Edward's old home.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update, I had a lot of homework this week. Being in I.B. isn't easy. :P

Anyways, here's the long-awaited Chapter 3.

**CHAPTER 3**

**WINRY**

"Oh, hello Edward." Winry's granny greets us at the door. Edward's standing in front, so of course she sees him first. "Oh, and you brought Paige with you. Naturally." She laughs, and calls Winry to the door, inviting us in.

"So Pinako's affected too…" I state, and Edward nods.

We go inside and Pinako walks off, mumbling something about making tea.

"Hey, Ed, need automail work… done? Who's this?" WInry asks as she comes in, when Pinako leaves.

"I'm Paige… I guess you can say I'm Ed's sister. But although that's what everyone says, it's not true." I reply.

"Ed's sister?" Winry looks as confused as Edward was when Mustang told him the same news.

"It's a long story, WInry." Ed sighs. "But, long story made short, Al's missing."

"Missing!? But, how is this possible? You two were talking to me on the phone _yesterday_!"

"I know, Winry. But Paige suggested maybe the Homunculi…"

"The Homunculi?! How do you know about the Homunculi?" Winry panics, taking a step towards me with that famous menacing-Winry-face.

I put my hands up in a surrender position and step back. "That's another long story, but it's innocent enough. You see, there's a manga series about their life… and it's my favourite. I read it all the time-"

"What?" Ed and Winry say together.

"You didn't tell me it was a whole series!" Ed says, with sparkles in his eyes.

"You must know more about Ed's life than I do…" Winry adds with a glare in Ed's direction.

Ed grins sheepishly.

"Anyways, so I was trying to read number 1, and my face was on the cover, not Al's. I opened it, and then I was here. Well, not here, I was in Central."

"That's quite a story." Winry states, pondering my tale.

"Yeah, I know… but it's the truth."

"Alright, if Ed believes you, I do, too." Although Winry didn't look or sound too sincere, I know she trusts me as much as she can, given the circumstances.

"Okay, then. So the question is…"

"What now?" Ed finishes, snapping out of his trance and coming into the conversation again.

"What else?" I shrug. "Find Al then send me home. But I don't want to leave until this is solved. The real question is…"

"Where do we begin?" I'm surprised Winry finishes this time.

"We?" Ed chuckles, turning his body to face her. "What makes you think you're coming?"

"Because I care about Al too! You always leave me out of everything and I want to do something for a change!" Winry counters, clearly upset.

Edward may not buy that, but the look on her face tells me she's not letting Ed do all the work this time.

"Winry, I-"

"No buts! I care about Al almost as much as you do! We're as close to being siblings as you can be without being related. I care about him, I care about his safety, I care about if he lives or dies!" WInry knows she's not winning her argument, I can see it on her face, so she keeps going. "I want to make sure he comes home safe… is that so bad? And it's not just him I'm worried about either."

Edward sighs in defeat. "Alright, Winry. You can come."


	5. Author's Note

*Author's Note*

Hey, sorry for the wait. School's been a pain in the ass, and I'm at a writer's block… So, I'll update soon, 'kay?

Any ideas will not be taken into account, I know what I'm going to have happen but I just don't want anyone to be out of character and I'm not sure where to start again, but I'll figure it out. I'm a big girl! ;)

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting, here's my Disclaimer:

_**For anyone who cares,**_

_**I really wish I owned Fullmetal Alchemist… But, sadly, my therapist says I don't. The people I'm supposed to call 'Mother' and 'Father' (That's also what I was told by the therapist) told me I've never even been to Japan, so I can't have made Fullmetal Alchemist. Unfortunately.**_


End file.
